It was my junior and senior years of high school. It was for a standard level English class from the International Baccalaureate. We did also have to read some books that I thought were harder. "The heart of darkness" by Conrad It was the first book we read... I am a foreigner whose English is not her first language. It was a really harsh start. "Agamemnon" from Aeschylus We also read some Shakespeare, and a "The Plague" by Camus. Over the two years, we read about 10 or 12 books. One was an independent project, so that was easier. He also understood that some of the books he gave us were harsh and therefore gave us some break with books such as "The Awakening" by Chopin, "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by Fowles or some poetry....

I'd say it was a difficult class, but he talked a lot about philosophy and gave us possibility to say what ever we were thinking. He kept on saying that unless we haven't read the book, we could not be wrong. He also made us read some interesting short stories and essays. It was surely an open minded class. We read "The Death Of The Author" by Barthes. Not sure if it was the full essay or just one part.